Now And Then
by CoffeeBiscotti
Summary: Doctor Elizabeth Bennet is paged to the ER late one night, and finds herself remembering a similar situation from her past. One Shot.


Doctor Elizabeth Bennet is paged to the ER late one night, and finds herself remembering a similar situation from her past. One Shot.

**This story has been sitting on my computer, practically finished, for a few months now. So I though I might as well post it! Be warned, there are time jumps. Oh, and it's pure fluff. **

**I did very minimal research to get correct terminology so if I get it wrong, it's Wikipedia's fault.**

**If you're reading this and not already reading my fic Masquerade, please, check it out, people seem to like it. Lol. If you're here from Mas, then thanks for checking this fic out too!**

**Oh, and please review! =)**

* * *

**NOW AND THEN**

* * *

**Now**

"_Paging Doctor Bennet, Doctor Bennet to the ER please."_

Now, there were three Doctor Bennet's at this hospital, so Doctor Elizabeth Bennet, who was standing at the nurse's station on the third floor when the page was announced, paused for a moment to wait for clarification. She reached for her pager to check she hadn't missed a call.

You might wonder how there could possibly be three doctors with the name of Bennet at Meryton's rather small hospital (although, it was the only hospital with an Emergency Room in the county), well the answer to that was simple. They were all from the same local family.

Elizabeth was in her final year of residency in the Paediatrics ward, she was twenty seven, smart (obviously), witty, pretty and dedicated to her job. The other Doctor Bennet's were her father, Doctor Thomas Bennet, head of surgery, and her older sister, Doctor Jane Bennet, an Attending OB-GYN. Lizzy realised however, that neither her father or her sister were working tonight, so it was with this thought that she picked up her pace and jogged towards the elevator.

She was surprised, when she reached the ground floor and dashed down the corridor towards the Emergency Room, to find it rather quiet. There was no emergency here. Behind the desk at the nurses station one of the ER nurses was filing charts, and didn't even glance up when she came in. Lizzy strode across to her, as the only other person she could see in the ER Ward.

"Char," she called, "Did you page me?"

Nurse Charlotte looked up from her filing with a small, mischievous smile and nodded, "Can you check out the new admittance in Bay 3?" she asked, causing Lizzy to turn and see that the bed in Bay Three was a little girl, all too familiar to Lizzy. Panic ensued. This whole scene was far too familiar for Lizzy's liking. She'd lived this once before. The night she'd met _him._

* * *

**Then**

_"Doctor Bennet, to the ER, Paeds needed in the ER Stat."_

Lizzy had been half way through a tuna sandwich when she'd been paged. She'd dropped the rest of her middle of the night dinner, and sprinted out of the staffroom towards the stairwell, bypassing several colleagues on her way. Her sister Jane was standing at the nurses station, talking to the floor nurse, as she sprinted past and tagged on behind her. They'd dashed down three flights of stairs together, and Lizzy had burst into the ER just seconds before her. The ER was unusually busy for their small country hospital, but then again, it was Christmas, and people tended to get a little careless on the holidays. Climbing onto roofs to hang fairy lights after a few glasses of spiked eggnog and such things. Lizzy veered towards the main desk.

"You paged me?" she puffed, taking two seconds to catch her breath as the ER nurse reached for a folder by her hand.

"Consult in bed three," she said, "Eight year old girl, presents with a fever, frequent vomiting causing dehydration, pain in the lower abdomen. Patrick put her on an IV for fluids while you were paged," she said handing the folder over. Lizzy flipped it open and skimmed the first few lines of the patient forms.

"Thanks Charlotte," she said and spun on her heel headed for bay three, Jane close behind her. Jane may have been an OB, but she'd done half of her residency in paediatrics before switching specialties, plus, no babies were pushing there way into the world right now, so she was available.

Lizzy drew back the curtain around bed three and saw the small girl lying in the bed, her face scrunched up in pain as she groaned. Patrick, one of the interns, was by the bed finishing up inserting the IV, glancing across the small curtained area Lizzy glanced a tall gentleman with rich brown hair pacing back a forth with a worried look in his eyes. His hand was clapped over his face, thumb and forefinger holding his lips, his brow furrowed. That was all Lizzy allowed her self to notice before giving the small girl in the bed all her attention. Patrick stepped back, making room for the two Doctor Bennet's.

"Hello there," Lizzy said, her voice soft and soothing for the small girl, who was now clutching her stomach. Lizzy, was putting her stethoscope on.

"My name is Doctor Lizzy," she said sweetly, "And this is Doctor Jane, we're going to help you sweet girl, what's your name?" she asked, the girl groaned once and looking up as Lizzy spoke.

"Georgiana Darcy," she said weakly, her face was stained with previously shed tears and she looked like she might cry again at any moment.

"That's a very pretty name," Lizzy said, "Now Georgiana, Doctor Jane and I are going to do a quick exam to find out what's making you feel so sick," as she spoke she put her stethoscope to Georgiana's chest and listened the her heartbeat and breathing. Jane was testing her blood pressure and they both dictated to Patrick who was now holding Georgiana's patient file and taking notes.

Putting her brightly coloured stethoscope back to hang around her neck Lizzy spoke again.

"Okay Georgiana, I need you to be a big brave girl for me alright? I need to feel your tummy and see what's hurting you so bad," she explained, "Can you lie flat for me sweetie?" Georgiana glanced over Lizzy's shoulder, in the direction of the man who had now stopped pacing, before looking back at Lizzy and nodding. She slowly straightened her body out and took her arms away from her tummy.

"Good girl Georgiana, not I promise to be as gentle as I can, alright? But you have to tell me when it hurts, okay?" she said, meanwhile Jane was taking temperatures and pulse rates.

Lizzy took her hands and placed them gently on the little girls stomach, pressing down lightly, starting on the left. Georgiana moaned a little but didn't cry out in pain. Lizzy moved across the middle of her belly, still pressing lightly several times and when she reached the right side of the girls stomach she got the reaction she'd been expecting.

"There! It's hurts there!" she cried, tears resuming.

"Her abdomen is rigid," Lizzy said quietly, "Patrick, lets get the ultrasound in here, and give her some morphine for the pain. It looks like appendicitis, the ultrasound with confirm it, but let's get ready to give her cefuroxime and metronidazole."

She smiled down at her patient then and brushed her hair out of her face.

"You were so brave Georgiana, thank you, I'm going to have you feeling better in no time, I'm sure your daddy is very proud of you," she smiled glancing backwards at the man for just a second, the little girl smirked then shook her head.

"No Doctor Lizzy! Will isn't my Daddy, he's my big brother!" she said, and she giggled, all be it meekly.

"Oh, how silly of me!" Lizzy smiled at the girl, then turned to face the man properly and for the first time in her life, Lizzy was speechless.

The man before her was the most beautiful man she'd ever seen, he was dishevelled yes, his hair was sticking out at odd angles and it was clear he'd been running his hand through it for a while, his eyes were tired and dark shadows made his face look sallow, but he was handsome. She'd only taken a quick glance at him before, because she'd been focused on her patient, but now she could see he was younger than she'd initially thought. Perhaps only in his late twenties, like her, but still, old enough for a girl this age to plausibly be his, had she been a high school sweetheart baby, or college even. But no, he was the brother. For the first time in her life, Lizzy did something she never thought she'd do… she glanced at his left hand, and felt elated when she didn't see a wedding ring.

"Doctor Bennet," Patrick's voice broke her reverie and she turned to see he'd brought the ultrasound machine. She took one last glance at the handsome man, who was her patients, obviously much older brother, then went to work. Squeezing the ultrasound gel onto the girls belly.

"This might be a little cold Georgiana," she warned, and carried on with the procedure. The ultrasound confirmed her diagnosis.

"See here Patrick," she said, pointing at the grainy screen, teaching the young doctor as was her job as a resident, "There's some fluid build up in the right iliac fossa, and here. It's definitely appendicitis, it's pretty progressed, she'll need surgery. Let's get those antibiotics into her and then can you page Doctor King" she said, Patrick went to carry out her instructions and Lizzy cleaned Georgiana up and told her what a wonderful patient she was. The small does of morphine was kicking in and her pain was lessened, it had also made her a little drowsy.

The ER nurse Charlotte came and wheeled the ultrasound machine away and Jane had disappeared a little while ago, her pink scrubs vanishing through the ER doors, presumably to deliver a baby, so Lizzy was alone with the handsome brother now, his young sister dozing off.

"Sorry about that little mix up," she said quietly, feeling a slight blush on her cheeks.

"Don't worry about it," he assured her, his hand went up to run through his hair again, "It happens all the time, people don't expect me to be the brother,"

"No I guess not," she agreed, looking him over again. He was wearing simple jeans and a t-shirt with sneakers, but they looked like _expensive _jeans and sneakers.

"We're half siblings," he was saying, "Same father, different mothers, Dad's wife is young. Lovely, but young" He glanced up and their eyes caught each other, Lizzy felt a bolt run through her.

"Sorry, I'm rambling, I'm just worried about her. She's never sick, she never complains. I've been up with her for hours…" he trailed off, "I'm doing it again," she chuckled. "Sorry," he apologised again, he was wearing a sexy smirk on his face.

_Sexy? Where did that thought come from Lizzy?_

_**Shut up**._

_Don't tell me to shut up_

**_Shut up!_**

_He's talking to you again._

"Shall we start over?" he was saying "You're Doctor Bennet, I'm William Darcy." He was holding out his hand for her to shake it, she reached out slowly, her hand slipping into his easily. His hand was large, and warm, she felt her skin tingle.

"Please, it's Lizzy," she said, a little more breathlessly than she'd intended.

"Alright then, Lizzy, call me Will," He let go of her hand and after she'd left hers jutting out there for a second too long she dropped it to her side.

"Alright, Will. Shall I tell you about your sick sister now?"

"Please," he nodded, "Is she going to be alright?" the concerned look was back now, and his sexy smirk gone.

_There you go with the sexy again! You liiiiiike him._

**_SHUT UP!_**

"Yes," she said, "Yes, she'll be fine,"

He looked relieved,

"She'll need surgery though," she continued, "To remove her appendix, it's very inflamed, that's what's causing the pain, the vomiting the fever. Appendicitis is not uncommon, but it can be scary for the parents… or in this case the brother," she smiled "It's a very simple procedure, I'll be scrubbing in, but I've paged Doctor King to take the lead, it's his area of speciality and he'll more than likely choose to do a Laparoscopic appendectomy, it's much less invasive and has a quicker recovery time, she'll have a short hospital stay too, which is always better for the kids. I've given her antibiotics and painkillers for now, but she'll be sedated for the procedure. When did she last eat or drink anything?" she asked.

"Dinner, at about seven o'clock," he glanced down at his rather expensive looking watch, "Geeze, yesterday!" Lizzy glanced at the big clock hanging over the ER desk and saw that it was almost three in the morning.

"That's good, there shouldn't be any trouble with the anaesthesia then. Now, you listed all of her allergies and such when she was admitted?"

"She hasn't got any, that we know of," he assured her.

"Great, you can relax now Will," she said with a grin, "Your sister will be fine, she'll have to stay here a few nights. But I'll take good care of her, and unless there are any unforseen complications, she'll be ready to go home in a few days. She'll have to take it easy for a few weeks. It always takes a little longer for kids to recover from an appendectomy. But you brought her in with enough time to catch and fix it. The appendicitis is rather progressed, but it's not severe enough to be near bursting point. You did the right thing bringing her in when you did," she smiled.

"Now, you stay here with the little princess, and I'll go and brief Doctor King on the details. He will come by and explain the procedure to you in a little while. She'll be in surgery within the hour." She gave him another smile and brushed his arm with her hand as she passed by him, leaving the curtained bay and the handsome man behind.

* * *

Doctor King had elected to perform the surgery laparoscopically, the procedure had taken a little over an hour and by five in the morning, little Georgiana Darcy was out of recovery and sleeping off the anaesthetic in a bed in the Paediatric ward. Her handsome brother had seen her in recovery and then been sent home until visiting hours started in the morning. Lizzy was on shift until midday, she'd checked in on the sleeping girl, along with her few other patients then making sure her pager was charged and on loud, went to catch some sleep in the on-call room.

It was nine o'clock, and after morning rounds, checking up on the now awake Georgiana and a quick stop in the cafeteria to grab the coffee which she was now inhaling, Lizzy was sitting at the nurses station filling in her charts when someone cleared their throat from above her. Lizzy looked up from her charts to see the handsome brother of her new patient smiling down on her. He'd obviously gotten some sleep, because he certainly looked refreshed, and even more handsome today.

_Just admit it. You like him._

**_Will you leave me alone?_**

_Will you stop having conversations with yourself in you head when perfectly amiable and eligible men are trying to talk to you?_

**_Hmmph, alright you have a point. Now leave me alone._**

"I guess it's a lie, that myth about all doctors having poor handwriting," he joked, glancing down at her charts. Lizzy glared at him playfully and closed her files, after all, they were confidential.

"Good morning," she said, standing so that she wasn't craning her neck to meet his tall figure.

"Here," he said, holding out a takeaway cup, "I brought you some real coffee," he cringed pointing to her vending machine cup "I tired drinking _that _last night while Georgie was in surgery. Honestly… how do you stand it? It's like battery acid!"

Lizzy glanced at the cup he held out, and not being able to resist, firstly the temptation of a good cup of coffee, and secondly, the generosity of the good looking man who was, in all honesty, dazzling her, reached out and took it. Taking a tentative sip. Her eyes widened a little in shock… it was perfect!

"How'd you know how I take it?" she asked, curiosity and suspicion taking equal footing in her mind.

His eyebrows had risen with intrigue,

"Really?" He asked, "I just duplicated my order… how crazy is that?" she smiled "At least I know you have good taste! That's three things now," he smiled back.

"Three things?" she asked, taking another sip of the glorious extra hot, extra strong, unsweetened cup of perfection this man had just handed to her.

"Yep" he said, popping the 'P', "Firstly, you're smart. You have to be, to be a doctor. Secondly, you're amazing with kids, I just saw Georgie and she can't stop talking about you, and _that _in itself is a feat for my shy sister, and thirdly, you drink coffee the way it was intended to be drunk. Oh, and the hand writing thing, so make that four things," he said. She felt that blush rising again.

_He likes you too._

**_Shut it!_**

"Well, you know so much about me, it's not very fair that I don't know anything about you," she said, and yes, she realised she was flirting.

_You go girl._

"Well, we really _must _fix that," he flirted right back, his mouth was opening to speak again when they were interrupted.

"Lizzy," someone yelled from down the corridor, preceding the appearance of her sister, "Max Baker is here for his chemo and he's crying for you again,"

Lizzy frowned, and Will noticed.

"You should go," he urged, and she nodded.

"Thanks for the coffee," she smiled, "I'll see you," she said, then rounded the desk to Jane's side.

"Poor kid won't budge from the hall," Will over heard the blonde doctor in pink scrubs from last night say.

"Can you blame him? Wickham doesn't care a jot about the kid, I'd be terrified too if he was giving me hundreds of needles every week," Lizzy had responded, then there entered the elevator and were out of his earshot.

"Appendix girl's brother is bringing you coffee?" Jane was asked, eyebrows waggling, once they were safely shut in the elevator. Lizzie shrugged.

"He's nice," she said, playing it cool, Jane didn't fall for that.

"Bullshit," she'd laughed, "You're totally into him,"

"Shut up," she'd laughed, giving her sister a nudge. The elevator doors had opened on the oncology ward and Lizzie had stepped out, already hearing little Max's cries.

"Don't make me tell Dad!" Jane had yelled after her, to which Lizzy had spun around and poked out her tongue.

* * *

As it had turned out, Jane was the next one to see the handsome Will Darcy in the Paediatrics ward. She was chatting to a fellow OB doctor at the nurse's station when he'd approached from his sister's room and tapped on the counter to catch their attention.

"Hi," he'd said with a grin, both Jane and Doctor Dennis Young had smiled back.

"Is Doctor Bennet around?" he asked, at which Dennis, glancing at Jane first, laughed.

"And which Doctor Bennet would you be looking for?" He laughed

"Excuse me?" Will asked,

"Well, there's three. I assume you don't mean the one standing right in front of you, because you wouldn't have asked."

"Dennis, shut up," Jane said, "You're not funny, he means Lizzy, she's treating his sister,"

"That's all I was asking!" Dennis said, having another laugh, then he vanished down the corridor towards the baby gallery,

"There's three Doctor Bennet's?" Will asked incredulously, "Three, in this one hospital?"

"Yeah," Jane laughed, they'd been asked this before, "I'm Jane, by the way, we didn't get a chance to meet last night. Your sister is very sweet, she seems to be recovering well,"

"Will Darcy," he said, shaking her hand, "And thanks,"

"Anyway, you were looking for Lizzy," she said, "We're sisters, before you ask, and the third Bennet is out father. Head of Surgery,"

"A family of Doctors, I'm impressed!" He said.

"Ha," Jane laughed "The impressive stops with Lizzy. Our mother left nursing after she married dad and our three younger sisters have no ambitions for medicine. Mary's in London trying to write plays, Kitty's studying design and if Lydia ever graduates high school she'll probably try out for a reality TV show!" she splurged, then realised she'd over shared.

"Sorry," she frowned, "I'm about to finish a 30 hour shift… things tend to go a little haywire in the brain at this point,"

He smiled, and Jane could see why Lizzy was attracted to him.

"Don't worry about it," he said.

"Anyway, Lizzy's shift finished at twelve," Jane said, Will looked down at his watch, Jane tried not to look shocked seeing the _Patek Philippe_ branded on it's face. It had just gone one o'clock.

"I think she ran over time up in oncology, but she will have headed out by now, on Tuesday's she volunteers at the soup kitchen,"

"She's been here since midnight and now she's at the soup kitchen?" he asked.

"Problem?" Jane questioned,

"On the contrary, the impressive certainly isn't lacking," he said.

"Yes, Lizzy is… certainly something," Jane agreed.

"I'm beginning to see that," he had a look in his eye and Jane knew what he wanted to ask.

"She has tonight off, but she'll be back on shift at nine tomorrow morning," Jane said, "Don't tell her I told you that."

"Why _are _you telling me then?" he asked with a grin. Jane shrugged.

"Not sure actually, you seem like a decent guy, you seem interested in my sister. I guess I kind of like you." She grinned, then left him standing there and headed to the locker room.

* * *

"We have some serious rectifying to do," Will murmured into Lizzy's ear when he came up behind her in the hall of the hospital the next morning. She turned to find him holding two cups of coffee again. He held one out to her and she took it.

"You know, a girl could get used to this," she said, "You'd better be careful unless you _want _to be my personal delivery boy."

_There's a thought._

**_Get out of the gutter._**

Darcy just laughed, "What can I say Lizzy, you intrigue me," she blushed, no one had made her blush this much before, except her mother, and that was definitely flushes of embarrassment, not flattery.

"What were you saying about rectification?" she asked, leading him to the nurses' station to drop off her charts. The girl behind the desk took them and went into the back room to file them.

"Well, I seem to have learned some more things about you since we last spoke, unintentionally of course, but your sister seems to get rather _chatty _after her thirty hour shifts."

"Jane?"

"The one and only," he nodded, "So I feel I should tell you, I know about your three other sisters, and your boss father, and your volunteer efforts at the soup kitchen. Very admirable," she smiled, there was that blush again.

"So, I feel I owe you some facts," he grinned, "And I was wondering if you'd like to go to dinner with me, one night when you're not working or volunteering, and we can even the score,"

"Oh, were you?"

"Mmm, like I said, you intrigue me Lizzy. I'd like to get to know you better,"

"But you forget, that's seven things you know about me now! And I only know one thing about you, ok, two if we're counting your good taste in coffee."

"Hmm, your two to my seven… even more reason to have dinner with me. I'm sure I could tells you hundreds of things over dinner,"

Lizzy pretended to contemplate for a minute, tapping her chin playfully.

"Oh, alright, I have Friday night off. And your sister should be discharged tomorrow, and once that happens, I won't be breaking any rules."

"There are rules about dating your patients siblings?" He asked

"Considering I work in paediatrics, usually there are many!" she joked, "But yes, it's not considered acceptable to get involved with patients or their immediate families. As of tomorrow, your sister will no longer be my patient, then there will be no rules," she said, "But for right now, I need to go and check on the little munchkin,"

"I'll come with you," he said with a smile and they went together to Georgiana's room.

* * *

**Now**

That night, or rather the whole week she'd been Georgiana's doctor two years ago had been a turning point for Lizzy, and suddenly it seemed like it had only just happened, because there across the room, lying in the very same bed as she had two years ago, was Georgie. Ten years old now Georgiana wasn't just a patient, she was her boyfriend's baby sister!

* * *

**Then**

Georgiana had been discharged the next morning, and so when Friday came around, and Lizzy finished her shift at the hospital at lunchtime, she rushed home to get ready for her date. What would be her first date in quite some time. Being a doctor didn't really allow for much of a social life, which was generally why doctor's ended up marrying other doctors. Her father had married his scrub nurse, Jane had come close to marrying Doctor Lucas from cardio before he'd transferred to the city. It was a miracle really that she was going on a date with a non-doctor… not that she actually knew what Will Darcy did for a living.

She made an effort to dress up, wearing a black cocktail dress and kitten heeled pumps. Will had only ever seen her in scrubs, so this was a major improvement. She also wore her hair down, washing it and using a curling iron to get some soft bouncy waves into it. Another improvement from the ponytails she sported at the hospital.

She met him at the restaurant, and was very nearly on time too, not that he minded her few minutes of tardiness.

"You look stunning," he'd greeted her, standing from the table like a gentleman. She blushed a little.

"Thank you," was her reply, as she noticed how good he looked too, in a crisp dress shirt, pressed grey slacks and a shiny satin tie. He pulled out her chair for her before taking his seat again.

"How's Georgiana?" She asked, smoothing her napkin out across her lap.

"She's very well, she's home with my dad and her mother again, they got home from their cruise this morning,"

"I had been wondering where they were," Lizzy admitted, thinking how curious it had been that her parents had never been at the hospital.

"They were away for their anniversary," he supplied, "Cruising Alaska, Georgie stays with me when they travel,"

Lizzy smiled,

"That's three," she said, taking a sip of the wine he'd just poured her.

"Three?"

"Handsome," she said, holding up one finger, "Great taste in coffee," she held up another, "Caring older brother," she lifted finger number three.

He smiled across the table at her,

"I still need four more till we're even," she teased and he grinned,

"What do you want to know?" he asked, she contemplated, and started with the obvious.

"Well, what do you do for a living?" she asked

"I'm a financial consultant," he said "And yes, it's a thrilling as it sounds," she laughed, "Basically people pay me ridiculous amounts of money to tell them or their company how to spend their money,"

"Because that makes so much sense," she laughed, "That makes four and five,"

"What was the fifth?" He asked confused,

"You're obviously well off," she shrugged, not bothered by the thought. She earned a pretty decent wage as a doctor, so it wasn't like she was intimidated by a rich handsome man, "You just admitted to earning ridiculous amounts of money, and just look at the restaurant you picked out,"

He looked concerned for a moment that he might have done the wrong thing, but the smile on her face made him think otherwise.

"So only two to go," she teased, contemplating her next question.

"Um, I hate brussels sprouts," he said, beating her to it "And, I think you're one of the most interesting people I've ever met," she felt herself colour again.

"I guess we're even then," she whispered, as he gazed at her from across the table.

"Even so, I'm sure there's so much more we could learn about each other. If you were willing?"

"I am,"

"Excellent," he smiled, "Shall we order appetizers?"

* * *

**Now**

"Georgie!" She cried, rushing across the ER to the bed. The same bed she'd sat in on that night two years ago.

"What's happened?" she asked, touching her forehead and pulling out her stethoscope. She didn't feel hot, and heartbeat was normal.

"Doctor Lizzy," Georgiana said, breaking Lizzy out of her exam, wondering why Georgie would call her that, since she'd been just 'Lizzy' for years now. That was when Lizzy realized that Georgiana was smiling, and not sick at all.

"What's going on?" Lizzy asked, hanging the stethoscope around her neck and putting hands on her hips. Georgiana's glace moved to over her shoulder and Lizzy turned to see none other that the girls brother standing there, in the middle of the ER, holding a huge bouquet of tulips, her favourite flower (he'd learned that on their first date), yellow for their meaning*. He was once again dressed in sneakers and jeans, and wearing the same t-shirt he'd worn almost two years ago when Georgie had been admitted to the hospital.

"Will?" She found herself saying, stepping towards him. He came to stand before her, he handed her the flowers, which she took, still wondering what was going on.

"Doctor Elizabeth Bennet," Will began, taking her left hand in his, forcing her to hold the flowers in the crook of her right arm, "Two years ago, in this very room, you stole my heart," he said, gazing down into her eyes, "I can no longer count the things I know about you, because I know you so well, from the most trivial to the most important things, the thing that I know, above all else, is that you're the person I want to spent the rest of my life with," taking a breath, he moved to kneel before her on the sterile hospital floor, "Lizzy, you've bewitched me, body and soul, and I love you so very much, will you marry me?" he asked, with hopeful eyes. In his other hand, the one that wasn't holding hers, her held out a beautiful diamond engagement ring and Lizzy was speechless. She knelt down before him, the tulips finding a place on the floor beside them when she needed her other hand to clasp over her shocked mouth.

"I can't believe you just proposed to me in my scrubs!" she cried, still astounded.

"Is that a yes?" he asked, desperate for her reply.

"Yes!" she cried, throwing her arms around his neck "Of course it is, you big goof! I love you!"

He laughed, full of happiness and slipped the ring on her finger.

"It's beautiful Will," she said through watery eyes.

"Just like you," he whispered, and then teasingly added "Even in your scrubs," she hit him on the arm as he leaned in and claimed her lips, to kiss his new fiancée.

A page on the intercom interrupted their kiss.

_"Doctor Bennet please report to the Paeds wing, Doctor Bennet to the Paeds wing,"_ the tinny voice interrupted.

She pulled away, smiling, but sad that she had to run off now.

"Only you would propose to me in the middle of a 12 hour shift," she laughed,

"I was trying to be romantic," he frowned,

"I know, and it was, but now I really have to go," she sighed, as he helped her up from kneeling on the floor. She held out her hand and admired the ring on her finger, then realized that she was going to have to take it off.

"Oh no!" she exclaimed, "I have to take this off," she frowned, not wanting to, but she couldn't risk it scratching a patient or popping a glove.

Darcy smiled, and reached into his pocket, pulling something out.

"Ah, I thought of that," he said, holding out a long sliver chain, he removed the ring from her finger, slipped it on the chain and stepped towards her, putting his arms around her neck, he fastened the chain, then tucked in down the front of her scrubs, the ring rested at the top of her breast, right near her heart.

"I don't want you to be without it," he whispered, kissing her chastely once more. She didn't know what to say, he'd thought of everything. The tinny sound of the intercom rang out again as the nurse repeated her page.

_"Doctor Bennet, please report to the Paeds ward!"_ it screeched out and Lizzy sighed.

"Okay, I really have to go," she said, letting go of Will's hand and walking backwards towards the door so that she didn't have to stop looking at him. She'd opened it and was halfway out when a thought crossed her mind.

"Hey! Soon, they'll be paging for Doctor Darcy," she called back to him, and he smiled.

"That'll be one less Bennet in this hospital then," he called back with a grin, "You'd better go, Doctor Darcy," and then she disappeared behind the swinging door.

* * *

_**fin.**_

* * *

***Yellow tulips can symbolize hopeless love or happiness in one's life.**

**Reviews would make me incredibly happy =)**


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